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March 20, 2016

Who will referee your nation in next week's International Friendly Matches? We are collecting referee appointments for these matches - some of them are still unknown though. If you know an appointment that is still missing in the list below, don't hesitate to inform us!

March 15, 2016

These are the referees appointed by UEFA for EL Round of 16 return legs. Among others, Serbian Milorad Mažić will handle the English derby Manchester United - Liverpool, while Italian Daniele Orsato has been assigned to Spanish duel Valencia - Athletic.

March 13, 2016

Mark Clattenburg and Ovidiu Haţegan are the referees appointed by UEFA for Atletico - PSV and Manchester City - Dynamo Kyiv. The Romanian Elite will make his debut in CL KO phase, under the eyes of Belgian Frank De Bleeckere.

March 8, 2016

These are the referees appointed by UEFA for EL Round of 16 matches. Among others, Spanish Velasco Carballo will officiate the English derby between Liverpool and Manchester United, while Dutch Björn Kuipers the full-Spanish duel involving Athletic Bilbao and Valencia. In addition, two Category 1 officials will be on duties.

UEFA has appointed Hungarian Viktor Kassai to officiate Wednesday's
Champions League return leg between Zenit St Peterburg and SL Benfica. The whole team will be assessed by Alan Snoddy from Northern Ireland. A few hours later, German Felix Brych will control Chelsea - PSG, observed by Italian Roberto Rosetti.

March 6, 2016

At their 128th meeting, the International Football Associations Board has defined a revision of Law 12 with regard to denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity (DOGSO) within the penalty area. In other words: The so-called "Triple Punishment" has been softened.

In future, referees will not only have to assess whether a clear, obvious goal-scoring opportunity was denied by an infringement. Instead, they will have to pay more attention to the type of offence, the intention of the offender and the possibility to play the ball while making the challenge which has denied the obvious goal-scoring opportunity:

"Where a player commits an offence within his own penalty area which denies an opponent an obvious goal scoring opportunity and the referee awards a penalty kick, the offending player should be cautioned [with a yellow card] unless:

- The offence is holding, pulling or pushing OR

- The offending player does not attempt to play the ball OR there is no possibility to play the ball OR

- The offence is one which is punishable by a red card wherever it occurs on the field of play (e.g. SFP, VC).

In all the above circumstances the player should be dismissed [with a red card] from the field of play."

Thus, the IFAB seems to react to the perceived unfairness that a team is punished three times due to the same, maybe unlucky infringement: 1) Red Card, 2) Penalty / Goal, 3) Post-Match Suspension.

From my personal view, changing sth at point 1) is not in the spirit of the Laws of the Game and football itself. Players, who deny an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, maybe even a safe goal should be sent off no matter whether their offence was deliberate or not. Instead, point 3) would have been a point which could have been reflected. In case of a goal scored from the penalty spot, one could have prevented the offender from any sort of post-match suspension, for example.

The typical argument of those in favour of abolishing the triple punishment is that the obvious goal-scoring opportunity would be reinstated by the penalty kick, so that a red card would not be necessary. In UEFA Champions League's last seasons, only 60-70% of the penalty kicks were converted into goals though. In decisive World Cup matches, the percentage is even a bit lower.

Imagine a defender denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. As it was a normal sliding tackle and maybe only a careless challenge in itself, a yellow card and a penalty are awarded. The penalty is missed by the attacker. Some minutes later, the same defender scores the decisive goal on the other side of the field. Is that fair?

Furthermore, the new wording might create more irritation and provide players with a target than before: While offences like holding, pulling or pushing are relatively clear and easy to detect and dismissing players for offences which are red cards everywhere of the field is nothing new either, assessing the possibility and the intention to play the ball will lead to tons of grey area situations with no clear solution (see handball, where intention is a vital criteria).

What about this tackle for example? No chance to play the ball? Or did he have the possibility? Did he want to play the ball? Mere speculation. This point might be abused by professional players as well.

On the other hand, this point is no complete novelty either: At least in Germany, the unofficial guidelines for fouls by goalkeepers within their own penalty area go into a similar direction: If they tried to play the ball, referees are mostly instructed to caution them...

UEFA has appointed two EURO 2016 teams to officiate Tuesday's Champions League return legs: Szymon Marciniak and co. will take charge of Real Madrid vs AS Roma observed and assessed by Hungarian Sándor Piller. At the same time, Damir Skomina's team will take control over Wolfsburg vs KAA Gent under the eyes of UEFA Refereeing Chief Officer Pierluigi Collina.

March 5, 2016

Some short pieces of news on UEFA officiating: Among others, please find the observers and delegates that will accompany the referee teams and represent UEFA in their pending Champions League Round of 16 return legs and Europa League Round of 16 first legs respectively - such as Pierluigi Collina in Wolfsburg-KAA Gent on Tuesday.

Furthermore, Goalline-Technology will be used in the finals of these competitions.

UEFA has decided to use Goalline Technology already in this season's
Champions League and Europa League finals. Read more about that here.
Originally it was planned to implement and deploy the system that takes
some pressure off the match officials' shoulders only from next season
on.